Wednesday, March 12, 2014

A New Milestone...

I just noticed that this blog now has 99 members - so 100 is easily within reach! If you've been reading here from your Facebook or Google + page and haven't yet signed on, how about it? The link is on the right hand side of the page. Be # 100!The actual number of regular readers here is substantially higher than 99 however, as thousands of people are reading this blog via Facebook and Google+, as well as Networked Blogs and other incoming sources. In fact, we're clicking off over 8000 views monthly now, which makes this one of the net's better read sailing blogs, something I'm quite proud of. Thank you everyone for, in the words of Captain Kirk, 'making it so'... The next big goal is 10k hits per month....so if you haven't yet shared LiveBloggin' with your boating and sailing friends - WHY NOT?Some interesting facts about the site - the videos on LiveBloggin' - ICW Tips and Tricks, Cruisers' Hangout, Sailing South - continue to get a significant number of hits. I plant to do more of these sorts of webinars, and hope to commit to another one very soon. Why do I say commit? They are a substantial amount of work, as you can imagine, but certainly worth it from what I hear back from you folks.
There are an increasing number of hits here from linked sources such as SAIL Magazine, whom I write for, and The Sailing Channel, who carries my downloadable videos on the ICW and Cuba. Frequently searched keywords include 'ICW' and 'sailing', 'Wally Moran' and 'free boats', which references the articles I did a while back on that topic. Interestingly enough, I continue to get regular hits on the search term 'naked news', having referenced them one time on a boat show article two years ago. Go figure...and I just bet those people searching 'naked news' are somewhat disappointed in what they find! So just for them: naked news naked news naked news naked news naked news....now watch the hit counter climb!Ok - enough dry statistics - let's talk about sailing! Here's an anchoring question from a regular reader. Seems that anchoring and choosing an anchor always gets attention - for those unsure of the process, which sometimes appears to be magical and mysterious....here's some answers. I've edited my response to this questioner to make it more applicable to all readers here. Experienced cruisers, let's hear from you on this topic also, please.

The one comment I would have - two actually - have 100 - 150% of your boat length in feet of properly sized chain, that way when your boat swings in the tide change, it won't get hung up on the rode - because the chain drops down. I have 75 feet since my boat is 34 feet loa.

Line does not fall straight down, and you can get 'pinned' sideways against a non chain rode in a tide change. For a 25 foot boat, you should probably have 7/16 three strand and 1/4" PC chain - 50 feet of chain as mentioned, then 150 - 200 feet of rope. I presume you don't have a windlass on a boat that size.

Also - don't use a danforth or fortress as a main anchor along the ICW - they foul too easily when the current changes. For weight, check the websites dedicated to the anchor you choose.For fans of the Danforth type anchor, it's the only anchor to use in places such as St. Michael, MD, on the Chesapeake, because its flukes grab and hold in the soft slush that makes up that bottom.LiveBloggers, I'm sure you have questions and comments - let's hear them, and your ideas on anchors and anchoring.